The Bad Habits of Jesus
Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong
by Leonard I. Sweet · Tyndale House Publishers · 2016
Book summary
A provocative reading of Gospel episodes in which Jesus' supposedly 'bad habits' expose conventional respectability and reveal the disruptive goodness of God's kingdom.
Chapter & section guide
Introduction: A Troubling Hope for a Troubled World
Jesus unsettles the habits by which societies protect themselves from grace.
Chapter 1: Jesus Spit
Embodied and socially awkward acts can become vehicles of healing.
Chapter 2: Jesus Procrastinated
Divine timing refuses anxious demands for immediate control.
Chapter 3: Jesus Appeared Wasteful
Extravagant love exceeds utilitarian calculation.
Chapter 4: Jesus Was Constantly Disappearing
Withdrawal, solitude, and prayer are essential to faithful presence.
Chapter 5: Jesus Offended People, Especially in High Places
Truth confronts status and protected power.
Chapter 6: Jesus Told Stories That Didn't Make Sense
Parables disrupt conventional logic and invite conversion of imagination.
Chapter 7: Jesus Loved to Party
Meals and celebration reveal the joy and inclusiveness of the kingdom.
Chapter 8: Jesus Could Be Dangerous
Love can threaten systems built on fear and domination.
Chapter 9: Jesus Hung Out with Bad People
Holiness moves toward the excluded.
Chapter 10: Jesus Spent Too Much Time with Children
The socially small become teachers and signs of the kingdom.
Chapter 11: Jesus Talked Too Much or Was Silent
Faithful speech includes both bold utterance and disciplined silence.
Chapter 12: Jesus Broke the Rules
Rules are judged by their service to life, mercy, and God's purposes.
Chapter 13: Jesus Enjoyed the Company of Women
Jesus crosses gendered boundaries and receives women as disciples and witnesses.
Chapter 14: Jesus Focused on Little Things
Seeds, coins, birds, and gestures disclose God's reign.
Chapter 15: Jesus Thought He Was God
The scandal of Jesus culminates in his divine identity.
Conclusion: Breaking Bad
Disciples imitate Jesus by breaking habits that keep the world wrong.
Editorial note: these are original thematic summaries prepared as a research and reading aid, not quotations from the book itself.